Today’s column is from the 11th annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF), this year in Guadalajara, Mexico. IGF is a United Nations-sponsored “multi-stakeholder” conference. Unlike many U.N. events, it is open not just to representatives of member states, but also to “civil society” (non-profits), academia and industry.

To that end, there are people here from numerous governments around the world as well as advocacy groups and technology companies, including Google, Facebook and Microsoft.

Countries represented include the United States and most European nations, but also much of Africa, Latin America and Asia — including some countries, such as China, Russia and Iran, where online human rights activists have particular challenges.

Just about any topic about internet policy is fair game at this conference, and there are workshops on inclusion and accessibility, net neutrality, online protection of children, empowerment of women, safety, privacy and security implications of “the internet of things,” as well as discussions about censorship and free expression.

Both sessions explored vexing issues for governments, social media companies and advocacy groups hoping to curtail radicalization and terrorism without limiting free speech. And, like many complex issues, finding a consensus was impossible.

At both sessions, there wasn’t even an agreement that the terms “extremism” or “radicalization” are appropriate ways to describe the problem. As the moderator of the social media radicalization session put it, “The definitions itself of radicalization are very diverse. They differ from country to country, context to context.”

Indeed, I remember a student group in Berkeley during the ’60s called “Radical Student Union,” which was radical only in the literal sense that it sought to get to the “root” of social problems like war and inequality.

Even the word “extremism” is subject to interpretation, sometimes depending on who’s in power. I was in Russia a few years ago, when the government had just passed a law against expressing extremist views online. In some cases, these “extremist views” were nothing more than expressing opposition to Vladimir Putin’s policies.

Yet, there is no question that there are radicals and extremists engaged in dangerous acts that, too often, result in the loss of human life. And there is also no question that some of these groups successfully use the internet and social media to recruit, radicalize and, in some cases, activate individuals to carry out atrocious acts.

There are numerous strategies that can be employed to combat what I think most would agree to be dangerous online radicalization, but the most widely discussed are censorship and so-called “counter speech.”

Censorship, which includes blocking or removing offensive content, has been shown to be “ineffective in tackling extremism,” and “potentially counter-productive,” according to a report from London-based Quilliam Foundation, which was represented on our panel.

Guy Berger, director of UNESCO’s Division of Freedom of Expression and Media Development, agreed. “There is no clear evidence that censorship actually reduces radicalization,” he said at the panel about youth radicalization.

Counter speech is the posting of positive comments, video or other media to counter negative or harmful postings. It’s a strategy often used not just to counter extremism, but also cyberbullying and online harassment.

While far from a panacea, counter speech has been shown to be at least somewhat effective. “It drowns out the content that is promoting violence, promoting hate or promoting fear,” said Indrajit Banerjee, also of UNESCO.

Indeed, a report from the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue concluded, “The use of counter-narrative messaging with measurable impact is replicable and scalable, though not without difficulty.”

Facebook, Twitter and Google have experimented with counter-speech efforts that “could be effective in reaching target audiences and driving conversations among them,” according to The Verge.

One conversation during my workshop focused on the line between legitimate free speech and expression, including protests and non-violent civil disobedience on the one hand, and what could be considered dangerous radical or extremist speech on the other.

The closest we had to consensus was a general agreement that speech which specifically advocates or encourages violence fits that definition. But someone raised the example of “pizzagate,” the fake news story that alleged a pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C., was the center of an online child pornography ring sponsored by a close associate of Hillary Clinton.

The conspiracy theory reportedly convinced one individual to take matters into his own hands by showing up at the pizza restaurant with a rifle so that he could “self-investigate” the bogus theory. The weapon was discharged, but it was a matter of luck that no one was hurt or killed as an indirect result of this piece of fake news, which had been widely circulated on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook and other platforms.

It would be a stretch to claim that those who promulgated or shared this fake story intended to incite violence, but that easily could have been a consequence of their online actions.

Michael Flynn, Jr., the son of Trump’s pick for national security adviser, left the presidential transition team after tweeting, “Until #Pizzagate proven to be false, it’ll remain a story. The left seems to forget #PodestaEmails and the many ‘coincidences’ tied to it.” At least in this case, there was a consequence to spreading fake news.

Despite the general lack of consensus, there was one point of agreement among all who spoke at my workshop. Potentially dangerous extremism, radicalization, hate speech and fake news are not limited to any single ethnicity, religion, nationality or ideology.

Agencies involved include United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania, the FBI, United States Department of Justice, the Luneburg Police of Germany, Europol and Eurojust along with investigators and prosecutors from more than 40 countries, according to the Justice Department.

The Avalanche network, which has been operating since at least 2010, is estimated to involve hundreds of thousands of infected computers worldwide. The monetary losses associated with malware attacks conducted over the Avalanche network are estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide, although exact calculations are difficult due to the high number of malware families present on the network.

Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Justice said that Europol seized, “sinkholed,” or blocked more than 800,000 Web domains used by malware as command and control centers and “confiscated over 30 servers, and put offline more than 220 servers via abuse notification protocols.”

The Avalanche network,, according to a joint Eurojust – Europol press release” was used as a delivery platform to launch and manage mass global malware attacks and money mule recruiting campaigns.” The European agency said that the criminal network has caused more than $6 million “in damages in concentrated cyberattacks on online banking systems in Germany alone.

IGF, which is convened by the United Nations, is described as “a multistakeholder platform that facilitiates the discussion of public policy issues pertaining to the Internet.” It’s an annual gathering of leaders from governments, industry, academia and non-profits from around the world. This year’s theme is “Enabling Inclusive and Sustainable Growth.”

Finally, Netflix is allowing people to download videos to watch offline. That’s great for those of us who fly a lot where even if you pay for WiFi, the connection is too slow to stream video. It’s also great for those who like to hang out in remote locations where the Internet is hard to come by.

In a blog post, Netflix said “While many members enjoy watching Netflix at home, we’ve often heard they also want to continue their Stranger Things binge while on airplanes and other places where Internet is expensive or limited. ”

There are two catches. One catch is that not all Netflix videos are available for download. The other is that you can only download to an iOS or Android device — you can’t download videos to a Windows or Mac laptop. That’s too bad. I’m one of many people who don’t routinely carry a tablet with me on trips, even though I almost always have my smartphone and laptop. Yes, you can watch movies and TV shows on a phone, but it’s a much better experience on a larger screen. And, for me, that would be a laptop.

Laptops typically have more storage than tablets or phones (essential for large video files) and many have excellent screens and speakers, adding to the user’s viewing pleasure. It’s all about choice. Companies like Netflix should let users access content on whatever device works bests for them, rather than dictating what how customers should consume their content.

Once the Thanksgiving tables have been cleared, a lot of folks are thinking about what to buy their friends and loved ones for the holidays. Rumor has it that there is a portly bearded man in the North Pole with an enormous database of what people want and what’s hot this year, but as far as I can tell, it’s well encrypted — otherwise it would probably already be on Wikileaks.

So, let me take a stab at what I think people might want this year.

I’m going to focus on mostly low-cost “stocking stuffers,” which can also be used for any of those eight nights of Hanukkah when you want to gift without shelling out too much gelt.

While it’s not very glamorous, every smartphone user needs a battery backup device they can use to recharge their phone when they’re away from an outlet. These range from really inexpensive (I saw some on Amazon for about $3) to over $100. Aside from price, the factors to consider include capacity (measured in milliamp hours (mAh), weight and connectors. Amperage can also be a factor. Higher amperage can equate to faster charging and the ability to charge larger devices like tablets.

There are tons of these little devices available — you can even pick one up at many chain drugstores. If you’re looking for something small and light, consider the Anker PowerCore+ mini 3350mAh Lipstick-Sized Portable Charger, which should be able to about double the battery life of most phones.

If weight doesn’t matter, you can go whole hog with something like the MyCharge Razor Platinum ($99) which has a whopping 13,400mAh built into an anodized aluminum case that’s rated for charging up to 8x. The company also makes a HubMax version that lets you forget about having to carry any extra cables. It has a built-in wall plug plus an Apple Lightning and micro-USB cables (for most Android phones) as well as a standard USB plug.

Everyone should have a smartphone case to reduce the chance of breakage should the phone take a fall. Before shopping make sure you know their exact model and, if you want to present someone with a unique case, consider going to Skinit.com or MyCustomCase.com to create a custom one with a photograph or illustration of your choice. It’s a great gift for someone who wants the world to see a picture of their new baby or perhaps romantic partner, every time they pick up their phone. Prices start at under $40. Both companies say to allow between 2 and 5 days for shipping but I’d give it more time during the holiday rush.

If you know someone who breaks the law by holding their phone while driving, consider getting them a hands-free car kit. Most, like the Motorola Roadster Pro ($79), connect to your phone via Bluetooth. Some have car mounts but I prefer using Velcro to mount my phone to my car’s dashboard (you can put it almost anywhere and it’s really really cheap).

Another option is just a simple Bluetooth speaker. I recently bought a Sony SRSX11 Ultra-Portable Bluetooth Speaker ($48) to listen to music in hotel rooms, but discovered that it can also be used as a speakerphone. It comes with a USB recharging cable that can easily be plugged into a car cigarette lighter USB adapter.

That little Sony speaker sounds quite good for something that weighs less than 8 ounces and is only 2.5 inches square, but if you want room-filling sound, consider the JBL Charge 3 Waterproof Portable Bluetooth Speaker ($128). I have one connected to an Echo Dot ($50) voice activated assistant and music player and it sounds quite good. It has a 20-hour rechargeable battery and you can use it poolside without having to worry about water damage.

Another way to get great sound on the go is with a Bluetooth headset. One nice thing about Bluetooth is that you don’t have to worry if your phone maker drops the headphone jack, like Apple did with its iPhone 7. They work with virtually all smartphones.

Plantronics makes the $179 Backbeat Sense that I like because it is lightweight and has pretty good battery life. The company rates the battery for up to 18 hours but I usually plug it into a USB connector when I get home from a walk so I’ve never fully discharged it. Like many (but not all) Bluetooth headphones, it also comes with a 3.5 mm standard cable which is handy if you want to plug into an airplane’s audio/video system or just don’t want to bother with Bluetooth.

As with most products, there are lots of other options, including some that might be a lot less expensive. If you search for Bluetooth headsets on Amazon, you’ll find a dazzling array of products starting at under $30. One trick for Amazon shoppers is to use the price search tool in the left column of a product search page that lets you specify the range of prices you’re willing to pay.

If you’re looking for more ideas, two of my favorite places for low-cost practical tech gifts are Belkin.com and Logitech.com. Both companies make high-quality accessories for just about every type of tech product ranging from keyboards to cases to mice and web cameras.

Whenever purchasing a gift, make sure you know the return policy and, if you’re buying it online and want it delivered directly to the recipient, make sure to see if you can get a “gift receipt” that allows them to return or exchange the item if it’s not exactly what they want,.

With the holiday season underway, a lot of people will be shopping online this year. For the most part, it’s pretty safe but there are some basic precautions worth remembering. On Black Friday alone, consumers spent more the $3 billion online, according to Adobe.

One risk when shopping online is to be sure you’re dealing with a legitimate merchant who is not only honest but also exercising a reasonable amount of security. One option is dealing with merchants you know. But event that’s no guarantee when it comes to security.

Big names and trusted small businesses

Big names like Macy’s, Amazon, Target and Walmart have reputations to maintain and policies in place but — as millions of people who shopped at Target’s brick and mortar stores in 2013 learned, being big doesn’t mean they can’t suffer from data breaches. Don’t necessarily shy away from smaller and less known merchants, who sometimes offer extraordinary customer service and unique products. Plus, you’re supporting small businesses. But if you are dealing with a business you’ve never heard of, do a little research by typing their name into a search engine or customer review site to see what people are saying about them. If they have a phone number listed, give them a call. A phone conversation gives you a lot more clues than a website.

If you’re not sure about a website or an app:

Do a web search to see what folks are saying. You can type the name of the merchant and the word “scam” to see if people are accusing them of anything, but take those results with a grain of salt. It’s extremely common for even the most reputable companies to get some negative comments. Look for a preponderance of comments or ones from highly reputable sources like a Better Business Bureau or a trusted editorial site.

Look to a physical street address and a phone number, and maybe call them to just see what kind of vibe you pick up from a brief conversation.

Look at the reviews on any app in the app store

Be very careful to make sure an app that’s “associated” with a retailer or brand is really from that brand and not just using their name

Look for a https in the browser’s address bar. The “s” stands for secure, indicating that the information is encrypted. It doesn’t absolutely guarantee security, but it’s important.

Use a credit card if possible or, if not, use a debit card, PayPal or some other payment service that offers fraud protection. Credit cards are best because if you do dispute a charge, the card issuer will remove it from the bill while it is being investigated. With other payment forms, you may be out-of-pocket immediately until the issue is resolved in your favor.

Be careful when using WiFi

If you have a choice, avoid shopping or otherwise giving out credit card information on public Wi-Fi sites.

It’s better to do it from home or a site protected with a secure password

When away from home, it’s best to use your cellular signal rather than WiFi even though it may eat into your data plan (shopping doesn’t usually consume much data).

If you are using a public WiFi network, make sure it’s legitimate. It’s possible for scam artists to set up their own networks that look like ones from a merchant, airport or hotel so ask a staff member the name of their network before logging on.

Safe passwords and log-in systems: The longer the password the better and it should not be a name or a word in the dictionary. One trick is to think of a long phrase that’s easy to remember like I met Sally Jones at Lincoln High School in 1985. Your Yahoo password could be the first letter of each word, upper case when appropriate with a symbol and numbers plus a reminder of what site it is like ImSJaLHSi!85YH. The YH at the end stands for Yahoo. Use different letters for each site that you’ll remember and change the password every six months or so or if you have any reason to believe it may have been compromised. Also consider using services with two factor authentication (you typically get a verification code on your smartphone to make sure it’s you). Here are Tips for Strong, Secure Passwords & Other Authentication Tools from ConnectSafely.

An even more secure method is to use dual or multi-factor authentication. Many sites, banks and merchants offer an option that allows you to require that you verify your identity with your cell phone whenever you log in from a new device. After you type in your username and password, you’re typically sent a text message with a short code that you have to enter to access the site. It’s slightly inconvenient but adds a big level of extra security and — in most cases — is only necessary when you’re using a new device to log in. This feature is also available for most web-based email services, which is important because email is often used as a way of recovering passwords.

Other tips

Make sure you know the company’s return policy and pay attention to the final price, including shipping and tax. Shipping and handling charges can vary widely.

As always, keep your operating system and any browsers or apps you use up-to- date. That’s helps protect you against known security flaws that have been fixed.

Brick and mortar dangers

Read the “fine print” before conducting transactions. Know shipping and handling charges and if you’re signing up for something other than what you want. Try to figure out a site’s cancelation policy before signing up for any ongoing services.

There are also dangers associated with brick and mortar shopping. Check your credit card statements online frequently to protect against fraudulent charges and data breaches against merchants and banks. When shopping in person, watch out for pickpockets, drive and park carefully and try to relax and smile at the clerks and your fellow shoppers. In today’s hyper connected world, someone’s “Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.”

]]>10761Google helps shoppers know if stores are crowdedhttp://www.larrysworld.com/google-helps-shoppers-know-if-stores-are-crowded/
Tue, 22 Nov 2016 21:01:43 +0000http://www.larrysworld.com/?p=10751Last year Google released its Popular Times feature as part of Google Now, which tells you when stores are restaurants are at their busiest. Now, in time for holiday shopping, they’re adding real time information, which means you can figure out of a store is crowded just as you’re about to get in your car or hop on the bus.

How to use it

Search for a business on Google and when you see it’s “card” click on it and scroll down till you see popular times. If there is live data, you’ll see LIVE in red followed by how busy the store is right now. Here’s an example showing “Live” status of an Apple store. You’ll find more details and instructions at CNET News.

One of the biggest challenges for broadband is the “last mile.” That’s the distance between a central distribution center and people’s homes, businesses and schools. It’s a big problem in rural communities and especially in the developing world, where running wires is unaffordable and impractical.

Cambium Networks has technology that can provide point to point connectivity of up to 245 kilometers to a distribution point and then get connections to people in surrounding communities through various wireless technologies, including WiFi.

]]>10738Instagram adds live video and disappearing videos and photoshttp://www.larrysworld.com/instagram-adds-live-video-and-disappearing-videos-and-photos/
Mon, 21 Nov 2016 23:42:47 +0000http://www.larrysworld.com/?p=10729Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, is taking a cue from Snapchat by offering disappearing photos and videos in Instagram Direct along with a new live video feature that lets you share the moment with your friends.Users can comment and “heart” you while they watch the live feed. Unlike the live video on Facebook, it can’t be archived and viewed later. It’s for the moment.

Instagram Direct lets you exchange messages with one or more people, and share posts you see in Feed as a message.

In a blog post, Instagram said that “Live video on Instagram Stories helps you connect with your friends and followers right now. When you’re done, your live story disappears from the app so you can feel more comfortable sharing anything, anytime.”

The video is an extension of Instagram Stories which Instagram introduced in August “as a way to share all the moments of your day, not just the ones you want to keep on your profile”.”

To broadcast live

Swipe right from feed to open the camera

Tap the “Start Live Video” button and start sharing for up to an hour.

Instagram said your Your friends may get a notification when you go live so they can tune in.”

Many people still circulate documents and there are those labels you need to print when you return something you bought online. For some reason, I’m more likely to find typos in my draft articles if I read them on paper rather than on screen and there are plenty of other reasons to print including — strange as it seems — letters you send by snail mail, pictures, calendars and other nice looking paper things that you might want to send people during the holidays.

I’ve recently been testing out HP’s new color PageWide Pro 452w. At $499, it’s expensive as far as printers go, but it’s really fast and economical to use. I’ve noticed over the years that lower cost printers are often more expensive to use so, whatever you pay for a printer, check out the cost of supplies before you buy it.

HP’s PageWide printers are interesting in that, as the HP website says, “Not inkjet. Not laser.” The technology, according to HP, employs thousands of tiny nozzles “on a stationary printhead that spans the width of a page” to deliver four colors of ink.

Unlike traditional ink jet printers, the paper moves past the nozzles rather than the other way around. The result is very fast printing (the unit I’m testing is rated at 40 pages per minute (ppm) but they have models that print as many as 70 ppm. It quickly spits out double sided sheets in one pass rather than the much slower two-pass method employed by most printers.

The quality is close to laser but not quite. I printed a number of different jobs ranging from a standard letter to a graphic laden brochure and, while all looked good, the brochure was not as crisp as one I printed on an HP laser printer. Still, the PageWide was more than adequate for office communications, letters and print-outs that you would want to share with others. Both text and images are clear. But, because it uses wet ink rather than dry toner like laser printers, there the possibility of smudging if you handle a graphic heavy page when before it dries or if the page gets wet.

The best thing about these printers is the cost of ink. If you buy high capacity cartridges directly from HP (they can be cheaper elsewhere), black pages will cost about 1.4 cents each and color about 1.9 cents based on an industry standard coverage. Your cost per page will vary depending upon how much ink your page uses but cost per page is about half of what you’d pay to use an HP color laser printer and much cheaper than most (but not all) ink jet printers on the market.

If you’re looking for a really low cost per page, consider any of the Epson printers that use its EcoTank ink. This ink comes in bottles rather than cartridges and a $19 bottle can yield as many as 6,500 pages. That’s about a 10th of the cost per page of even the most economical laser printer on the market.

Although either of these printers can be used to print color photos, neither is as good as printers designed for that purpose. But I’ve long stopped printing my own pictures. I find it’s cheaper and better to send them to Walgreens, Costco or some other printing service, which delivers better quality prints for less than it typically costs for paper and ink. And, if they mess up, it’s on them — not me.

While these ink jet printers are good for most office communications, I still recommend a laser printer when you want professional quality brochures. I work with a nonprofit that produces brochures that are printed on both sides of an 8 1/2 by 11 page and folded in thirds. If we have them printed at FedEx Office, they’re $1.30 per brochure plus the cost of folding but — using a printer like the $299 HP Color LaserJet Pro M542dw, we can print them ourselves for a fraction of that cost. The actual cost per page depends on the coverage so, if we use large graphics, it could add up to 30 cents or more but if we stick to smaller graphics, it’s a lot less.

Either way, it’s so much cheaper than professional printing that you can pay for the printer and extra toner after just a few hundred pages. I wouldn’t use this for large jobs, but it’s great when need to print out a couple of hundred copies at a time, which also means we can keep our brochure up-to-date because we don’t have to keep large quantities on hand.

But, despite the need for printing, it’s worth remembering that there is an environmental cost of paper, ink and even the manufacturing and recycling of the printer itself so, whenever possible, I try avoid printing when I can. And, when I print for my own use, I try to use draft mode that uses less ink. I also save money and the help the environment by using inexpensive recycled paper rather than more expensive paper sold by the printer maker.